“What does that have to do with Melissa and her plan?” Vee demanded.
Sunny stopped her giggles and frowned, ignoring Vee’s comment. “What was in the garage that Wink wanted to check out? What’s that high-pitched sound? Why would he need an air conditioner in his garage?”
“Well, all I know is that I’m not going there again.” Esther uncrossed her legs and lurched to her feet. “Mr. Leonard scares me.”
“We need to focus, girls. Don’t you want to save the Waddle?” Vee asked them. “I mean, we’re going to look pretty stupid if we let everyone down now.” She pulled out the notebook and pen. Esther rolled her eyes. “We’re going to have to talk to every single neighbor on that street. Including Mr. Leonard. And we have to do it in less than three hours.”
“We could just call them, Miss Bossy.” Esther jerked her hands to her hips.
A Mom saying came to mind as Aneta watched the two girls square off. Again. “I see thunder on the horizon” meant trouble was coming. Vee and Esther had been friendlier during the past two weeks. Nothing started them up faster, Aneta knew, than Esther not wanting to do what Vee came up with first.
“For one reason, we don’t have their phone numbers. And second”—Vee began to write—“we need to do what Aneta’s Gram suggested before. That worked. Then have them sign a form that says they are now okay with the Waddle.”
“Yes, ask them what we can do to change their minds,” Aneta said. “But that is Mr. Leonard’s street. Where we got in trouble.” Aneta wadded up one of Wink’s ears. Squidgy, squidgy. That was her made-up word for the wrinkly wads. The puppy half opened his eyes. He loved her to gently squish his ears.
“Yes.” Vee stared off into space. “I can’t believe we have to do something else to keep Melissa from winning.”
Esther put her hands on her hips. “You are obsessed with winning, Vee, when this is a fund-raiser for a good cause that Melissa is trying to ruin.“
Vee’s gaze fell on her backpack. “Everything is about winning.”
“I’m sorry, girls,” Nadine interrupted. “You’ve only got three hours before the meeting. What are you going to do?”
“Three hours!” Sunny yelped. “That Melissa!”
“I’ll go to the other four houses, but I’m not going back to Mr. Leonard’s.” Esther stared each of them right in the eyes.
Aneta shook her head. “It is okay, Esther. You do not have to.”
The girls reviewed their plan with Nadine.
She shook her head. “I don’t know. It’s a long shot. But I have to give you girls credit for trying.” She called her friend back at the council. The council said that they could bring the neighbors’ approval to the meeting.
While Sunny, Vee, and Esther argued over which house to go to first, and Vee and Esther bickered over who would create the document for the homeowners to sign, Aneta used Nadine’s phone to call Mom. She thought it might make the girls happier if there was a sleepover involved after the hot, sweaty work of talking to the neighbors. They would celebrate collecting all the signatures. Mr. Leonard would see that they were truly sorry and only wanted to do a good thing.
While she waited for Mom’s assistant to get Mom on the phone, she thought about how Esther didn’t seem to like to go home. She always looked for any kind of invite that would mean she could stay longer at Aneta’s. Then Mom’s voice sounded on the phone.
“Are you all right?”
After Aneta asked about the sleepover, Mom’s voice took on a smile. She agreed promptly, saying she’d bring dinner home for all of them. “I’ll come home early so you girls can have a swim after your hard work.”
After Aneta told the girls about the sleepover, the other three called home. It was a yes for everyone! Then they were off. The signature sheet came off the printer. The clock was ticking: less than three hours to get all five signatures.
“Oh! I thought that lady would never stop showing us pictures of her cats! We’ve lost so much time!” Vee bit her lip, jumping down the steps of the house next door to Mr. Leonard’s. She flourished yet another signature on the form.
“We couldn’t be rude. She might not have signed the sheet! Okay, we’re down to mean Mr. Leonard’s house.” Sunny pulled her hair off her neck and fanned herself. “How much time do we have left?”
“Forty-five minutes. Now we won’t have time to go to Aneta’s house and swim before the meeting.” Esther frowned at her watch.
“Silly Cat Woman,” Sunny said, twirling around with her arms out. “I am cooking, cooking, cooking in this heat. The pool would be so cooooool!”
“If you’d stop hopping all over the place, you probably wouldn’t be so sweaty.” Esther’s face was redder than Sunny’s under the Paws ‘N’ Claws Animal Buddies cap each of the them had been given by Nadine. “I’ll wait under that tree”—she gestured across the street to the park and its perimeter of oak trees—“until you’re done with him.“ Without waiting for Vee to answer, she walked across the street.
“She’s making a giant deal. He’s not that scary,” Vee said, her almond eyes narrowing as her gaze followed Esther. “We just have to do what we’ve done for each of the other four houses.”
“Introduce Wink, tell his story, explain the Waddle, and ask him to sign the document.” Aneta had it down. She’d even made the speech at the last house. She was speaking a lot lately. She glanced down at the low-rider puppy nosing up and down her leg like a vacuum cleaner. She laughed as it tickled. It was easier to speak up when it had to do with Wink. Then her smile vanished. She couldn’t bear to think of someone else adopting him. The day before, all the posters had only caused Mom to say, “You did a tremendous job with the poster, sweetie. That little dog looks like he could fall right off the paper.”
“Might be a good time to ask God if you could have Wink,” Sunny said suddenly.
“You mean I should talk to Him like I talk to Mom?” Aneta asked. “A forever home for Wink.” C.P.’s comment had stuck in her head.
“Yep,” Esther answered. “Now, can we get back to the Waddle?”
Wink’s costume in the Waddle was her last hope for Mission Mom. If that meant talking to Mr. Leonard, then she would.
“We’ll say we’re sorry again about going on his lawn,” Sunny said. “Grown-ups like it when you say you’re sorry a lot.”
Grasping the leash firmly, Aneta marched toward Mr. Leonard’s front door. Wink once again leaned into his harness as they passed the driveway leading to the separate garage in back, but she teased him away to follow her.
“What is it that he smells over there?” Vee asked, stepping over him as she mounted the steps. She rang the bell; Aneta picked up Wink and joined her. Sunny stood at the bottom of the stairs. The tiny front porch barely held two girls and a squirming puppy. Aneta glanced back; Esther was watching from across the street. Sunny was bouncing up and down on her toes.
Up. And down. Up. And down. The redhead flashed her a smile and gave her a thumbs-up.
Three times Vee pressed the buzzer, and three times no one came to the door. She looked at Aneta. Aneta looked back. Wink whined, and Aneta realized she’d been clutching him too tightly.
“Now what?” Vee asked, her brow arching high.
“Here, let me,” Aneta insisted, shifting Wink to her left arm and knocking loudly on the door. Again. And again. Someone had to be home. They had done too much to let Melissa stop them. What about all the dogs that would get help from Paws ‘N’ Claws Animal Buddies because of the Waddle?
“Ow!” She drew her hand away from the door.
No one came to the door. The two girls looked at each other. Vee shrugged. She reached over and patted Wink. In silence, the two girls walked down the steps as though their feet were weighted with concrete.
Esther crossed the street and joined them. “One crummy signature short,” she said. She checked her watch. “We’ve got to go straight to the meeting. No more time. Vee?”
Vee pulled out the ATP, and e
ach girl called her family. The parents would meet them at the council meeting. The tightness in Aneta’s throat threatened to choke her. What would the council do with four signatures?
Sunny had moved to the driveway and was eyeing the garage. Aneta could tell a plan was forming in that curly head. As the group stood forlornly on the sidewalk, she spoke.
“I wonder if there’s a car in the garage,” she said. “I thought I saw the curtains move upstairs while you rang the bell.”
Vee, Aneta, and Esther peered up at the second story where three curtained windows marched across. “Which window?” Vee asked, craning her neck.
“Doesn’t matter.” Sunny shrugged. “Nobody’s answering the door.”
“So what are we going to do about the last signature?” Esther looked like she would cry. “Melissa is so mean!” She stamped her foot like she wished Melissa lay under it.
As they crossed the street, Wink wound the leash around their ankles, interrupting the conversation as they tripped over each other. Finally, they had to stop in the middle of the street to untangle themselves from the leash and each other.
“We did our best.” Sunny shoved her hands in her pockets. She didn’t sound like she believed it. Aneta didn’t for sure. Like she had when she pulled Wink from the lake, she wondered…had her best been good enough?
Twenty minutes later, the girls stood in front of the council chamber doors. Back to the courtroom-like place. Will Wink and the rest of the bassets get to waddle? Will Mom get to see his costume and fall in love with him and say yes, come to our forever home? It would take a miracle to convince the council that four signatures were good enough. Um, please God, if You could…
Chapter 16
Hooray!
Later that evening, after darkness had enclosed the patio into its circle of twinkle lights around the pool, Mom swept Aneta off her feet in yet another big hug. “I am so proud of you!”
From his reclining position at the pool edge, Cousin Zeff raised his lemonade glass, ice clinking. “You surprised me, little Aneta. Never thought you’d step right up to that mic in the council chambers and say, ‘Four signatures is good enough.’”
“Why not?” Mom said, her arm still around her daughter’s waist. “She’s a Jasper.”
Gram’s smile glowed in the lights. “I e-mailed Grand that you did a great job asking the council to completely approve the Waddle for good!”
“Pretty cool for a tall, skinny girl.” C.P.’s voice came from the top of the fence. Aneta looked over and smiled at him. How did the short C.P. manage to hang over the top without falling backward? One of these days she would find out.
“Okay, C.P., come on over. I know you’re dying to. And yes, Gram made baba ghanoush.” Mom raised the tray she was bringing from the kitchen. The boy’s eyes lit up. He disappeared.
She and Aneta returned to the kitchen for yet more food. Where they would find room to put it on the table was anyone’s guess. When it came time for dessert, Aneta filled a large blue bowl with sliced strawberries. Mom removed the pail of vanilla ice cream from the freezer then retrieved several boxes of shortbreads from the pantry. Party sounds wafted in from the pool. The Fam and the three girls were all talking at once. Aneta cocked her head to hear, but only picked up snippets: “…was awesome… Just stood there…spoke clear as…” A heavy splash interrupted the conversations. Loud squeals followed. Aneta grinned at Mom. Mom winced. “My nephew again with the pool throwing? I hope your new friends don’t mind get ting wet.”
Aneta shook her head, picked up the tray with the strawberries and cookies, and moved toward the french doors. “Esther’s the only one who might get mad. I hope he doesn’t throw her in.”
Two steps later, onto the patio, she witnessed a drenched Esther in the pool, shrieking with glee and attempting to shove Cousin Zeff’s head under the water.
By the time The Fam left, it was long dark. The girls got out their sleeping bags from the hall where Vee, Esther, and Sunny had dropped theirs when they arrived.
“Let’s put them on the grass over here,” Vee suggested, tucking her bag under her arm and striding to the edge of the slate patio.
“No, over here.” Esther took her bag to where the door opened into the house. “It’s closer to the house, in case—” She paused. “Well, just in case.”
Aneta stood between the two girls. She shot a sideways glance at Sunny. Not tonight. Sunny shrugged and hefted her sleeping bag to her shoulder, following Esther. “No problem. I’ll sleep where Esther wants to sleep, and Aneta can sleep with Vee.” She speared first Vee then Esther with a mock angry look. “Since we all can’t get along. You’d think by now we’d have had enough adventures to be a squad. As in united.“
“Squad?” Aneta liked the sound of that. It sounded like adventure. Like their adventure of rescuing Wink and organizing the Waddle to help others like him. Even adventures of stop ping Melissa. “What is the name of our squad?”
Sunny shrugged. “Well, it certainly wouldn’t be the Harmony Squad, would it?”
Esther flushed, picked up her sleeping bag, and walked over to where Vee had hers. “If you put it like that…” She smiled at the taller girl.
The corners of Vee’s mouth turned upward, and she darted forward to deliver a quick hug to Esther. “Yes! Squad member.” Then she dashed over to the circular patio table, whipped out her notebook and pen, and began scribbling quickly.
Curious, Aneta stood behind her. Vee had started a list of words, scratching out as many as she wrote.
“What are you doing?” Sunny plopped into the chair to Vee’s left while Esther took possession of the one on her right.
“Trying to find a name for our squad.”
Esther grinned. “Like maybe the Esther Squad.”
Aneta held her breath. Would this be the start of more bickering? But she saw Vee’s eyes crinkle in amusement. Aneta let out her breath. Maybe they were starting to…like each other?
Vee wrote down each of their names while the other girls watched. Then she ripped three sheets off her notebook and slid them across to Sunny, Esther, and Aneta. “Aneta, three pens, please? We have a mission here.” She cocked her head at Sunny, who grinned, nodding emphatically.
“Yes. Girls with a mission.”
Aneta, pleased there would be no arguing over who led this new project, ran into the house to the junk drawer in the kitchen where she retrieved three pens. Skipping past Mom, who sat in the window seat working on her laptop, she flashed her a smile.
“Having fun, sweetie?”
“Oh, yes!”
“Now,” Vee instructed, her eyes alight with excitement after Aneta returned. “See what you can come up with that’s a word using our four names. Like the first letter of each of our names, okay?”
Sunny leaped up and twirled. “Yes!” she shouted. “I like this.”
Esther said, “That’s what brainstorming is all about. Making lots of words and then seeing if there’s any worth keeping!”
“Did I make you think this was for a grade? Nope, not for a grade.” Another rare Vee smile.
They went to work.
VEAS—from Vee.
VASE—from Sunny.
EAVS—from Esther.
“Okay, that was not easy. I’m the only one who came up with a word,” Sunny said.
They regarded their work. Aneta was still staring at her piece of paper. The pen lay next to it.
“Nothing yet?” Sunny asked her.
Aneta shook her head. S, V, A, E. They just looked like letters.
“Well, based on what we’ve got, we’re some sort of squad that does something with flowers and maybe mythical creatures named Veas and Eavs.” Esther played around some more with her paper. “I think it was a good idea, Vee, I really do. I just didn’t come up with anything.”
Vee sighed. “Me neither.”
A slight pause then Aneta picked up her pen and wrote the four letters once more. She pushed the paper toward the middle of the tab
le. The other three leaned forward.
“S.A.V.E.,” read Vee. Her eyes flew wide. “Aneta! You’re brilliant!”
Sunny spun. “I love it.”
Esther frowned at the paper. “It is…,” she said slowly. Then she looked at Aneta. “You’ve got the letters of our first names and it spells what we are doing for Wink and the dogs.” She sniffed. “I might cry.”
Aneta giggled, Sunny gave a snort of laughter, and Vee let go with one of her crooked smiles. Esther tipped back her head and laughed hard. “We are the S.A.V.E. Squad!”
C.P.’s face popped up over the fence. “The what?” he asked, gazing with disappointment at the empty patio table.
Esther waved the paper. “We are the S.A.V.E. Squad!”
“You’re just lucky girls who get to eat all the time,” was his only response as his head disappeared behind the fence.
How does he do that?
Sometime later, Aneta yawned and surveyed the faces of the three girls who had become her friends as well as the S.A.V.E. Squad. Esther and Vee were going through the final checklist for the Basset Waddle the next morning, while Sunny endlessly skipped around the pool. Aneta glanced at the updated list.
The Hound costume kicks off the start.
Sunny has the air horn to blast off the beginning of the Waddle.
Pooper-scoopers at the park & behind the Waddle—Esther make sure they are coming.
Crowns at my house for King and Queen of the Waddle.
Dog Daze Page 8